The DAX Index added 0.4 percent to 7,261.25 at the close of
trading in Frankfurt, after earlier rising as much as 1 percent.
The DAX has rallied 22 percent from this year’s low on June 5 as
European Central Bank policy makers approved an unlimited bond-buying program and the U.S. Federal Reserve started a third
round of asset purchases. The broader HDAX Index also gained 0.4
percent today.

Retail sales in the U.S. rose more than forecast in
September. The 1.1 percent gain followed a revised 1.2 percent
increase in August that was the biggest since October 2010 and
larger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures
showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 77 economists
surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.8 percent rise.

A report from China showed inflation in the world’s second-biggest economy was close to the slowest pace in two years last
month. Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent from a year earlier,
while the producer-price index fell 3.6 percent, the National
Bureau of Statistics said on its website today.

Banks Rise

Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank gained 1.4 percent to 1.50
euros and 1 percent to 32.94 euros, respectively, as a gauge of
banking stocks was the biggest riser of the 19 industry groups
in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

Douglas jumped 8.1 percent to 37.62 euros, the biggest gain
in nine months. Advent, the U.S. owner of French fashion brand
Gerard Darel, bid 38 euros a share in cash for Douglas after the
German retailer’s founding family agreed to take it private.

The buyout firm made the offer to Douglas’s shareholders
through investment vehicle Beauty Holding Three AG, according to
a regulatory statement today. The retailer’s three largest
shareholders have a binding commitment to accept the bid, and
Advent has secured 50.5 percent of Douglas’s stock, the U.S.
company said.